Mobile device management upstart MobileIron late last week confirmed a $20 million round of Series D financing.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based company, whose platform is used for enterprise management and security for mobile devices and applications, also said it had added 200 enterprise customers in 90 days and has expanded its workforce by 30 percent.
MobileIron has four major investors at present, all of whom participated in the Series D round: Foundation Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital and Storm Ventures. According to a statement from MobileIron, the $20 million will be used to "drive rapid global growth, accelerate initiatives for existing and emerging mobile platforms, and meet the rapidly growing worldwide market demand for mobile device management and security."
"MobileIron manages some of the largest iOS and Android deployments in the world, and from what we've seen among our customers and channel partners, this is only the beginning," said Bob Tinker, MobileIron CEO, in a statement. "We are investing in growth to be the go-to-leader for enterprise customers for mobile management, security and apps."
MobileIron was founded in 2007, and its MobileIron Virtual Smartphone Platform offers single-pane, real-time management of mobile device behaviors and usage. The company's offering includes support for Research In Motion BlackBerry devices, Apple iOS devices, Microsoft WIndows Phone devices, Nokia Symbian-based devices and Google Android-based devices. MobileIron was featured in the Leaders segment of Gartner's 2011 Magic Quadrant for Mobile Device Management Software.
The proliferation of mobile devices in the enterprise and also in small and medium sized business is forcing companies of all sizes to look at their mobile device security with greater scrutiny.
According to a recent study by Symantec on the "Consumerization of IT," 63 percent of respondents indicated their company allows employees to use smartphones of their choice for work-related activities, and 91 percent of respondents said their company allows employees to use their work-related smartphones for personal use as well as business-related tasks. Only 51 percent of respondents, however, said their employer has communicated policies and best practices around the security of their smartphone.
